(born 1945) is a Japanese

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. In 2024, he received the

Pritzker Architecture Prize The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment which has produced consisten ...

, considered to be the most prestigious award in architecture, becoming the 9th Japanese architect to receive such honor.

Early life and education

Yamamoto was born to Japanese parents in Beijing, China. His parents had moved from Japan to China for his father's work as an engineer as part of the

Japanese occupation of China The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part of World War II, and often r ...

. In 1947, the family returned to a Japan devastated by World War II. In 1949, after his father's death when he was four, Yamamoto moved to his mother's hometown of

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

. In 1967 he completed his bachelor's degree from

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice, in 1889. The university's name is derived from the Ja ...

and in 1971 his master's degree from the

Tokyo University of the Arts or is a school of art and music in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained artists in the fields of painting, sculpture, crafts, inter ...

. Afterwards he continued his studies at the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

under Hiroshi Hara.

Career

Yamamoto founded the Yamamoto & Field Shop Co.Ltd in 1973. From 2000 to 2011 he was a professor at

Yokohama National University , abbreviated to , or YNU, is a national university located in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Founded in 1876, it became a national university in 1949, and currently comprises five graduate schools and four undergraduate faculties. The ...

and at the Graduate school of Engineering of the Nihon University. As of 2015 he taught at his alma mater Nihon University. Some of his most representative works are the Rotunda Building (Yokohama, 1981); the Hamlet Building (Tokio, Shibuya-Ku, 1988), or the apartment blocks Ryukoentoshi (Yokohama, 1992).

Recognition

Under the many awards Riken Yamamoto has won, the most recent achieved by him are: The Japan Institute of Architects Award for the Yokosuka Museum of Art (2010) Building Contractors Society Prize for the Namics Techno Core (2010), Building Contractors Society Prize for the Yokosuka Museum of Art (2008) or the 25th Fukushima Architecture Culture Award, highest award for the Fukushima ecoms Pavilion, SUS Fukushima Factory (2007). In 2024, Yamamoto was awarded the

. On the occasion, architect and Jury Chair

Alejandro Aravena Alejandro Gastón Aravena Mori (born 22 June 1967) is a Chilean architect and executive director of the firm Elemental S.A. He won the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2016, and was the director and curator of the 2016 Venice Biennale of Archite ...

stated about Yamamoto's work that "''one of the things we need most in the future of cities is to create conditions through architecture that multiply the opportunities for people to come together and interact. By carefully blurring the boundary between public and private, Yamamoto contributes positively beyond the brief to enable community. He is a reassuring architect who brings dignity to everyday life. Normality becomes extraordinary. Calmness leads to splendor.''" In 2025, Yamamoto was the recipient of the 31st Crystal Award.

Selected works

* 2005: Future University Hakodate Research Building,

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

; SUSTRG Office Project, Fukushima * 2007:

Yokosuka Museum of Art opened in , Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, in 2007. Architect: Riken Yamamoto. The collection, numbering some 5,000 pieces, includes works by Fujishima Takeji and Nakamura Tsune. See also * Kannonzaki Lighthouse * Li ...

, Kanagawa Prefecture * 2008: Namics Techno Core, Niigata; Guan Yuan Housing, Beijing; Dragon Lily's House,

Gunma is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima Prefecture to t ...

* 2009:

Utsunomiya University is a Japanese national university, national university in Japan. The main campus is located in Miné-machi, and the engineering campus at Yōtō, in Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture. History Utsunomiya University was estab ...

Center for Optics Research Tochigi * 2012: Tianjin Library * 2018: The Circle at

Zürich Airport Zurich Airport is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland, and, with its surface transport links, much of the rest of the count ...

Image:Hirosima Nishi Fire Station01.jpg, Hiroshima West Fire Department Image:Future University-Hakodate.JPG, Future University Hakodate Image:Yokosuka Museum of Art 2009.jpg, Yokosuka Museum of Art Image:Fussa_City_Hall.jpg, Fussa City Hall

Notes

References

External links

*
Riken Yamamoto Official Website

Riken Yamamoto l'hospitalier
Le Journal des Arts {{DEFAULTSORT:Yamamoto, Riken Japanese architects Educators from Beijing Nihon University alumni Academic staff of Nihon University 1945 births Living people Academic staff of Yokohama National University Pritzker Architecture Prize winners University of Tokyo alumni